Hello everybody! I'm from Leeds. My girlfriend of 10 years has just been refused a UK visa so I thought I'd drop by and read about other people's experiences so that hopefully she can come here next year. It's hard, now I have to go to her home in Manila for 3 weeks and visit Palawan and Bohol....
Welcome to the forum.. Sorry your girlfriend was refused her visa, what visa was it and why did they refuse her?
It was a 6 month tourist/visitor/general visa. My credentials were so good they refused her on the grounds that they thought she might not return. She has 3 kids and 5 grandkids so why wouldn't she go back? She only wanted to visit the UK, meet my friends and family etc. Anyway, that's history now. I have to suffer for 3 weeks....
Nicely put! I gather visit visas are becoming scarcer than hen's teeth, and the trouble is that the assessment of the overstay risk is essentially subjective and very much in the discretion of the case officer. I'm no expert, but I fancy an appeal might be worth a shot.
Unfortunately, AEKara64, your girlfriend is a lady of "a certain age" and (apparently) doesn't have any dependants, so that will be in her disfavour. She has to be able to convince the case officer that she has compelling reasons to return to this country.
What's that supposed to mean? Because she is in her 50's she can't get a visa? The compelling reason was because she had no earnings or savings to declare. I sent her some money last year to convert her house into a sari-sari because she was unemployed and ageism still exists in the Philippines. Now she has the most successful business on the street. She hasn't registered it yet though. Thanks for your replies, think I'm gonna like it here!
I know one woman from the Philippines who had kids and was in her 50s and she got a tourist visa to the UK, but only because she had her own business. A business now long wrapped up since she got a spouse visa and now lives in the UK.. But it seems the entry clearance officer had a suspicion she could overstay her visa, they really only need the slightest suspicion and they deny visas. A sad reality..
Hello again Kuyas, When your wife applied and paid for the visa on line, Do they give you an appointment when to send all the documents or you just send them as soon as you paid for the visa? Or you personally go to the Embassy as soon as? And for the payment, can my wife use my debit card to pay for it? Because we are thinking of applying for visa on line next week.. Thanks! Rhen
We didn't pay online.. At the time we had to pay money into a bank account for VFS to process. So basically I sent the money by World Remit and also used Azimo (as World Remit restricts the amount you can send in one go) and my wife then paid the amount herself.. The final screen after submitting the visa application form provides a print screen you're meant to print off and include into all of the supporting documents and then take that along to VFS for processing. I doubt your mahal could use your debit card, even if the staff knew it was for a visa you had signed off on they might decline risking the potential implications. Send the cash! Or pay online yourself!! Pretty sure we booked our timeslot with VFS the day before applying for the visa, as I did a mock visa application myself to used to it.
Not all the time though because the mrs tried to pay online and only accepting CARDS! And it didnt give any other payment method
When my wife applied she took cash to a specified bank and paid into an account that the UKBA specified, taking the receipt with her with her visa application. However, I believe it has changed and has to be paid by card now. Have you tried taking a look at either the VFS or UKBA sites as I beleive the detail on how to pay these days has changed in this way.
My wife took advantage of the VIP premium service on the VFS website. For a small fee it enabled her to book a timeslot of her choosing plus a few other bits and bobs.
The government are introducing payments to be made online but it is still paid to VFS into their bank account and evidence taken to their office along with the application pack. The evidence needs to be either the payment bank receipt or manager's cheque. We chose to just pay into their account (my memory is lacking with the details of which bank) but full details are on the last page online during the application process..
Follow this link here - Paying your visa application fee It has been reported numerous times that a VISA card works significant better than MASTERCARD
